First Birthday Party

John Henry was very lucky to have a lot of his family, godparents, and a few close friends that came to his first birthday party.  Bebe and Cece were generous to offer up their house and we took full advantage!  We decorated Christmas cookies, played outside, and ate cake.  It was a wonderful afternoon and although John Henry started off slow (he woke up from a late nap) I think by the end of the party he really enjoyed being the center of attention. 

Mommy and Daddy stealing a quick moment with John Henry before the party started.



Grandma Yeary got some love too.  We are so grateful that she was able to help us prepare for the party.  She baked all the cookies for the kids to decorate!

Bebe and Cece were wonderful hosts.  They helped us get everything set up, picked up the food, and they did most of the clean up.  How lucky are we???

John Henry enjoyed playing with the star balloons.  Of course we got star balloons, how could we not?

And then our friends arrived.  Maggie and Charley wasted no time and got right down to decorating their cookies.

I think Bree enjoyed tasting the toppings more than she enjoyed decorating the cookies!

John Henry's cousins Henry and Max came to show the kids how it's done.  The boys were so sweet and helped the kids throughout the party.

Avery was quick to grab the pink sprinkles.  She did such a great job decorating her cookies.

Buie made sure to cover his cookies with lots of icing!

Look how hard Wade is concentrating!

And look how patient Celie was waiting for some different toppings.

Santa Mason.  I love this shot.  It's so festive.

Sweet Cousins.  Holland and John Henry both wore their Christmas outfits I bought them over a year ago!  I guess you could say I was planning ahead.

What a lucky boy!  Kisses from two very pretty girls.

We are very blessed that John Henry's godparents live close by and can be involved in his life.

So now that he's one he should be walking right?

He tries.  But he doesn't do it on his own.  We think he can but...

He prefers to catch a free ride.  As much as we want him to walk, we love the fact that he reaches for us and loves on us.

By the end of the party John Henry was starting to open up and show off some new tricks.  Here he is blowing some kisses.

I decided to go simple on the cake.  We chose Publix and they did a cupcake cake for the guests and below is John Henry's smash cake (with star candles of course).

John Henry liked the candles and I was praying they wouldn't fall on him.

Max was very sweet and helped John Henry blow out his candles.

He realized pretty quick what to do with a smash cake...

He was so proud of himself that he had to clap!

Right after this picture he threw his cake on the ground.  It was classic.

John Henry required on outfit change after his cake.  He was a sticky mess.

This was our group shot (minus Bree).  It's not too easy to get all the kids looking at the camera, especially when they see their cookies sitting in front of them.

Thank you to everyone that came to celebrate John Henry's first birthday.  It was such an important day and we loved getting to share it with you.  We also want to thank Jessica Luce who came to take pictures of all the kids.  We were able to relax and enjoy the party knowing that someone else was in charge of pictures.  Thank you Jessica!